Hotel Barcelona: Everything We Know

Hidetaka “Swery65” Suehiro and Goichi “Suda51” Suda are back at it again with an upcoming time-looping action game called Hotel Barcelona. Thanks to the Xbox Digital Broadcast at the Tokyo Game Show, we got a sneak peek at the new game. The trailer was everything you could dream of – weird, bloody, and fun! There are plenty we aren’t quite crystal clear on. However, Swery and Suda were happy to stick around after the trailer, sharing their thoughts about the game. So, get ready while we declutter Hotel Barcelona: Everything We Know for You.

What is Hotel Barcelona?

Hotel Barcelona is an upcoming time-looping action game by developers Hidetaka “Swery65” Suehiro and Goichi “Suda51” Suda. Its gameplay will include some 2.5D sidescrolling action as well as slasher film parodies.

Story

Hotel Barcelona tells the story of America’s most dreadful serial killer, who is on the loose and hunting for blood. Unless you can slash through their throats and “check out before all the blood is spilled…” well, there really is no other choice. It’s kill or be killed.

It’s not just serial killers coming after you, though. There are evil entities from out of space, too. You have a demonic chef whose go-to weapons of choice are a saw and an AI shark. Running to save your life is not an option. From aliens to serial killers, you’ll have to kill them all to survive.

The game will take place at the Hotel Barcelona. It’ll have distinct settings, from casinos to camping grounds around the hotel. Although Hotel Barcelona is one living world, it’ll have seven smaller worlds inside. Each of the seven worlds will have a serial killer boss. You’ll have to kill all the bosses to win.

 Slasher Phantoms

There’s a twist, though. The player can come back to life to finish the job. As long as the time loop is still in effect, they will have to make sure that the serial killer boss is dead. Using the “slasher phantom” feature, you can choose to have your previous self fight beside you when you die. 

This “undead” shadow will follow you on your missions to help you navigate the visceral world of Hotel Barcelona. However, your shadow self cannot fight serial killer bosses for you. 

In Swery65’s own words, “You might then think, If I have three Slasher Phantoms with me all the time, all the levels will be a piece of cake. I assure you, it is not that easy.”

Ultimately, it all sounds like a pretty intriguing campaign. Even as Sery and Suda’s excitement was brimming through their presentation, it’s pretty clear that they’re aiming to deliver an exceptionally distinct experience that one won’t forget easily post-play. 

Gameplay 

It’s no secret that Hotel Barcelona is an unusual game. Right off the bat, it’s easy to peg it as a side-scrolling action game. Onward into the trailer, you can see it’s gory-packed themes, unapologetic in every way. It’s not surprising, owing to Suda51’s previous works that follow the same themes.

Suery61, via Xbox Wire, shed light on the gameplay, saying, “Hotel Barcelona, the place where all the action takes place, is an integrated leisure complex, featuring facilities such as a casino and camping grounds around the hotel to create a single, living world with seven smaller worlds inside.”

He added, “Due to the fact that Suda-san and I are making the game, the worlds each have some twisted tricks, and each of them has a serial killer boss. The objective of the game is to somehow defeat the boss and clear the seven worlds.”

Development

Swery65 and Suda51 first announced that they would be working together on a new horror game called Hotel Barcelona in 2019 under developer White Owls Inc. During the Tokyo Game Show game reveal, Swery and Suda stuck around to share their own thoughts on the development process. They confirmed that the game takes inspiration from Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” which, in retrospect, makes its adaptation easy to see in the reveal.

While the game draws inspiration from horror movies like “The Shining,” each serial killer boss doesn’t particularly pay tribute to any single movie character.

“They’re more like an embodiment of a subgenre of horror films. For example, there are many subgenres of horror, such as slasher movies, zombie horror, summer camps, babysitters, and so on. We came up with the idea of our bosses through the tropes that each subgenre has built up over time.”

During the Xbox Tokyo Game Show broadcast, Suda revealed that the two collaborated on the initial conception. However, it was Swery who mostly led the charge on development.

“Hotel Barcelona materialized. Most of the time, when someone does lip service like that, the project never materializes. Swery made this project a reality in order to deliver something to the fans.”

Previous Works

Both developers have a competent trail of video games in their portfolio. Suda51, on the other hand, is best known for No More Heroes, a trilogy series whose latest edition came out in 2021 on the Nintendo Switch and later on other platforms. No More Heroes is a hack-and-slash game with an action-adventure angle. Players fight against multiple contract killers, all of which are quite similar to Hotel Barcelona.

Suery65, on the other hand, is best known for Lollipop Chainsaw and Deadly Premonition. He’s also worked on the RPG game The Good Life. Either game is masterful in its own right, and I bet Hotel Barcelona will maintain, if not exceed, the same caliber of prowess when developing Hotel Barcelona. 

Trailer

Hotel Barcelona’s announcement trailer is live on YouTube. It was first released during Xbox’s Tokyo Game Show broadcast event. 

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Hotel Barcelona will be coming to the Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC platforms via Steam sometime in 2024. While there are no editions to speak of, we’ll keep an eye out for new updates and let you know as soon as they come up.

So, what’s your take? Will you be picking up a copy of Hotel Barcelona when it drops? Let us know over on our socials here.